


redemption where it matters

by hoywfiction



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Baby Scorpius Malfoy, Good Lucius Malfoy, It's through his POV anyways, Lucius Malfoy-centric, Lucius meets Scorpius, Malfoy Family Feels, Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 06:30:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9871550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoywfiction/pseuds/hoywfiction
Summary: Draco cut his father out of his life soon after the Second Wizarding War, but several years later, Lucius is ageing and filled with regrets. He knows he doesn't have a lot of time left and just wants to meet his grandson, and tell his son he's sorry.





	

There were many things I wanted to be when I grew up. As a child, I always imagined that I would marry a beautiful woman, have a lovely child or two, and raise the family that I never had… That my father never allowed. Well, I did marry a beautiful woman. The _most_ beautiful woman. And we had a son, who I loved more deeply than anything else in the world from the moment I laid eyes on him… But as for family, I have failed mine more deeply than my father could have ever.

I will never forget the first time I ever hit my child. He was ten years old, just around the age of defiance. I’d asked him to provide Dobby with his daily meal, and he refused, with this glitter of arrogance in his eye I’d only ever seen from the darkest of hearts before. It scared me so much that I struck my own son across the face. When he looked back at me, the shine that scared me so was gone, but now I could see fear in its place.

I have never raised a hand to my son ever again, as I know I shouldn’t have that day. To this day the fear and the pain in the way he looked at me haunts me, and yet that isn’t the worst I’ve done by him. He told me so, about seven years ago. For the first time, he stood up to me. He screamed, told me that he would have rather I hit him daily than do what I’ve done, and concluded that he didn’t want me in his life anymore. 

Narcissa visits him and his wife often, and tells me how they are and what Draco is doing with his time. She tells me that he’s doing well and that he’s put a divide between himself and anyone who would be seen in the eyes of the world as a bad person. I suppose I fell into the category. She tells me that Astoria sometimes asks about me, to my surprise. I advocated against their marriage and yet she still opts to care about me… It’s something I don’t deserve.

“Lucius!” Narcissa came into the sitting room one particular evening, looking wild with excitement.

“Yes, dear?” I said, looking up from my tea and following her with my eyes as she came closer to me.

“We’re going to be grandparents!” My heart stopped beating, and yet somehow, I smiled.

“That’s… That’s wonderful,” I said, though the words were hard to get out of my mouth when my lungs had decided to freeze.

“I’m off to buy some gifts for them, I’ll be back later.” As soon as she turned the corner and I heard the familiar crackling of the Floo, my eyes began to burn. I couldn’t tell if the tears were of sorrow or of joy, perhaps both. This was it, my son was all grown now, having a child of his own. And it struck me. I wouldn’t be around forever, and if things kept how they were, I may never meet my grandchild. And my son may never forgive me.

I spoke to Narcissa about it, and she spent her visits with Draco trying to convince him to give me another chance. Every time, he refused. Scorpius was born, and I regretfully wasn’t there to hold him on his first day. Narcissa kept trying, and every time she visited them she asked our son to forgive me. Ever still, he refused. Scorpius’s first birthday passed, Narcissa pleaded, Draco refused…

I felt as if I may simply give up hope, until Astoria changed the tides. I was invited to Christmas dinner. But when I arrived, my joy became muddled with guilt and longing. I now needed a walking stick, my hair was not quite as blonde, and my left eye had become hard of sight. But not enough so that I didn’t see the sympathy on Draco’s face as I approached their home.

“Father…” Perhaps it was my ageing appearance that moved him, or perhaps it was the look on my face, but I was hardly at the porch when Draco threw his arms around me. I dropped my walking stick, wrapping one arm around his back and lying my opposite hand on the back of his head, holding him as close as I could.

Tears fell freely from my eyes, and from his. We both fell slowly to our knees, and I held to him tight, as if he may disappear if I let go. I stroked his hair, whispered my apologies, told him how much I’d missed him and that I loved him. I felt years lifted from my shoulders.

“Dada?” And then the smallest voice came from the doorway. Both Draco and I looked up, and I saw a little boy that looked much like myself. A boy I had only ever before seen in pictures. Tearfully, Draco held out an arm and waved for him to come closer.

“Come here, Scorpius,” he said gently, and the child ran over to him, round grey eyes focused on me. Draco lifted him up and sat him on his knee, smiling softly as he looked from me and back to his son. “This is your grandfather.”

I swallowed, an overwhelming love flooding my chest, and grinned. “Hello, little one.”

He looked at me with intelligence that defied the bounds of a simple toddler, and for a long moment he did nothing but stare. And then he reached out, his tiny hand resting against my cheek. He squeezed just slightly, then pointed a finger, tracing the outline of my face before resting his fingertip at the corner of my lips. He spoke again. “Dada.”

“I think he likes you,” said Astoria from her place beside Narcissa, and I smiled at her, teary-eyed and as vulnerable as I had ever been. I reached out an arm to her, and without question she knelt on the ground and joined us in an embrace. Soon my wife too joined in, and when I thought I couldn’t be any happier than I was in that moment, Scorpius laughed, and his hand found one of my fingers, wrapping around it.

I caught Draco’s eye, and he smiled, wide and true. For just a moment, he was the same little boy who used to look upon me with awe and admiration. I’d wronged him, robbed him of his childhood and his innocence, but I would not make the same mistake again. With however many years I had left, I would be the father he always needed that I never was. I vowed upon it.

“Merry Christmas, Father,” Draco said softly. With the same voice, I replied.

“Merry Christmas, my son.”


End file.
